08.227 Faculty Disability and Family and Medical Leave Salary Continuation Policy

To provide for a period of paid leave for faculty members for serious personal disability or eligible family leave purposes under the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) and Family Illness Leave. (See Policies 08.225 and 08.226) To ensure equal treatment among faculty who need paid time off related to personal disability, parental leave, or family member illness and to ensure the consistent administration of faculty leaves of absence.

Authority:

Provost

History

Revised June 2022; Reformatted and revised effective August 1, 2007; Revised: July 1, 2004; Revised: August 21, 2001; Adopted: November 13, 1998.

Source of Authority:

UNC Policy 300.2.11[G]

Responsible Office:

Human Resources/Office of the Provost

Policy Details:

Objectives

To provide for a period of paid leave for faculty members for serious personal disability or eligible family leave purposes under the Family Medical Leave Act of1993 (FMLA) and Family Illness Leave. (See Policies 08.225 and 08.226)

To ensure equal treatment among faculty who need paid time off related to personal disability, parental leave, or family member illness and to ensure the consistent administration of faculty leaves of absence.
General Statement & Definitions
1. Under FMLA eligible employees are entitled to a total of 12 workweeksleave, paid or unpaid, during any 12month period for serious personal disability or eligible family medical leave purposes.
2. A serious personal disability is a serious health condition, injury, illness or impairment that requires either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider and includes both acute and chronic conditions.
3. Family members for purposes of this policy include a spouse or unmarried partner, children, or parents. This policy also covers otherdependents living in the employee’s household.
  1. A spouse is a husband or wife.
  2. Unmarried partners are any two individuals who have a committed relationship with one another and consider themselves life partners; who maintain a common household and share responsibility for the common necessities of daily living; who haveboth attained the age of consent and are not so closely related to one another as would preclude marriage in NC; and who are both unmarried and have no other partner.
  3. A child is a son or daughter and may be a biological child, an adopted child, a foster child, a stepchild, the employee’s legalward, or a child of an employee standing in loco parentis under 18 years of age or is 18 years of age or older and incapable of selfcare because of a mental or physical disability.
  4. A parent is a biological or adoptive parent or an individual who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child.
4. Eligible family leave is for four qualifying reasons:
  1. Birth of a child and care for the child after birth, provided the leave is completed within 12 months of the birth.
  2. Care for a child placed with the employee for adoption or foster care, provided the leave is completed within 12 months following adoption.
    
    3 Care for the employee’s spouse, unmarried partner, child, parent or other dependents living in the employee’s household with a serious health condition.
    
    4. The serious health condition of the employee.
Coordination with FMLA and the NC Family Illness Leave Policy
1. All periods of paid time off under this policy will be construed as family medical leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act. The FMLA entitlement of 12 weeks of leave without pay will run concurrently with any period of paid time off.
2. The North Carolina Family Illness Act allows for an extension of up to 52 weeks of leave without pay during a fiveyear period in cases of serious illness of a spouse, child, or parent. Under NC Family Illness Leave an eligible employee is a permanent or timelimited employee (1) who has worked for the State of North Carolina for a minimum of 12 months and (2) has been in a paid status at least 1040 hours during the previous 12month period (or the equivalent of 50% of fulltime equivalent load for faculty). Temporary employees are not eligible for Family Illness Leave.
Coordination with Disability Plans

To the extent applicable, salary continuation is paid during the NCDIP waiting period and does not extend or defer the period for which employees are eligible for shortterm disability benefits. Faculty are encouraged to enrolled in a supplemental program to avoid a possible financial disadvantage in the case of serious illness.
1. NC Disability Income Plan Benefits
  
  All faculty participating in retirement and who have at least one full year of service are covered under the North Carolina Disability Income Plan (NC DIP) for shortterm disability benefits which provide up to one year of disability income at 50% of base salary following a 60day waiting period. Further, faculty with five years of service are covered under NCDIP for longterm disability benefits which provide disability income at 65% of salary after the shortterm disability period has been exhausted.
2. Supplemental Disability Programs
  
  All faculty participating in retirement are eligible to participate in a supplemental disability income program at their own expense, which provides 66.67% of base salary (after coordination with NCDIP benefits, if any, and social security benefits) following a 90day waiting period.
  
  Employees who do not enroll in the supplemental disability plan within 30 days of eligibility are required to provide medical evidence of insurability in order to participate .

UNCW Salary Continuation for Faculty

Exclusive Nature of Policy

Upon the effective date, this policy becomes the university's sole faculty disability policy and should be applied in all cases of disability or serious health conditions. Informal voluntary agreements whereby faculty teach courses and perform other normally assigned professional duties for disabled or ill colleagues are no longer endorsed, recognized, or approved, except in the initial two weeks of a disability as noted below.
Eligibility
1. Participation in Retirement Plan
  
  To be eligible for salary continuation, a faculty member must be participating in the Teachers' & State Employees' Retirement System, the UNC Optional Retirement Program, the UNCW Phased Retirement Program or be employed under a threeyear halftime reappointment contract.
2. Eligible Appointments Covered Under This Salary Continuation Policy
  1. Tenured and tenuretrack faculty, regardless of length of service, fulltime lecturers with more than one year of service, and visiting faculty with more than one year of service are covered under this salary continuation policy . Faculty disabled for a period greater than 90 days will be transferred from the university payroll to be compensated through NCDIP if eligible.
  2. Disability or family leave salary continuation is not available to fulltime lecturers with less than one year of service, to visiting faculty with less than one year of service, or to adjunct, temporary, or other faculty in nonbenefit earning appointments.

Salary Continuation Benefit

UNCW will provide salary continuation at 100% of base salary as follows:

Up to 90 days from the onset of the faculty member’s personal disability. Faculty disabled for a period greater than90 days will be transferred from the university payroll to be compensated through NCDIP if eligible.
Up to 90 days for eligible family leave purposes as outlined in II . C. above.

Salary continuation payments are equivalent to the faculty member's 12month disbursement schedule and are not calculated based on the number of academic work days lost.

Eligible employees are entitled to a total of 12 weeks leave during any 12 month period.

Explanation of appointment types, leave purpose and salary continuation
Appointment Type	Leave Purpose	Salary Continuation
Tenured and tenuretrack faculty regardless of length of service (including tenured faculty with 10, 11 or 12month appointments)	Employee’s serious disability or health condition Birth or adoption of child	90 days 90 days
	Family member’s serious health condition	90 days
Fulltime lecturers (who contribute to either TSERS or the ORP) with more than one year of service	Employee’s serious disability or health condition	90 days
	Birth or adoption of child	90 days
	Family member’s serious health condition	90 days
Fulltime visiting faculty (who contribute to either TSERS or the ORP) with more than one year of service	Employee’s serious disability or health condition Birth or adoption of child	90 days 90 days
	Family member’s serious health condition	90 days

Successive Disabilities

Salary continuation may be afforded more than once during an individual's employment with the university, but only once for a given disability period for the same medical condition (as determined by Human Resources under NCDIP guidelines).

Coordination with Other Leave Benefits
1. No Impact on Other Leave Options
  
  This policy shall not be construed as reducing or eliminating any leave with pay, off campus scholarly assignment, research reassignment, or leave without pay option presently available to faculty and administrators for otherthan disability purposes.
2. No Change to Incidental Sick Time Off Policy
  
  This policy does not change the practice of colleagues covering classes during periods of incidental sick time off of less than two weeks. Salary continuation covers only those absences in excess of two weeks, but will becharged from the beginning of an extended absence.
3. Coordination with Accrued Sick Leave
  1. EHRA administrators who simultaneously have faculty rank at the time of their disability must first exhaust any accrued sick, vacation, or bonus leave and then will be eligible for any remaining period of salary continuation applicable to their faculty status (if greater).
  2. Faculty who have accrued sick, vacation, or bonus leave from a previous EPA administrative appointment must first exhaust any accrued sick, vacation, or bonus leave and then will be eligible forany remaining period of salary continuation.
  3. If sick leave is used, it will run concurrently with and not in additionto disability salary continuation.
4. No Leave Accrual Entitlement
  
  Salary continuation under this policy does not constitute "sick leave" as thisterm is used in Federal and State laws and university policies. Allowances for salary continuation have no cash equivalency; are not transferable through the university's shared leave program for EHRA leave earning employees & SHRA employees; may not be credited to retirement under the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System; and are not relevant under the Optional Retirement Program.
Procedures
1. Mandatory Notification to Dean & Human Resources
  
  Department chairs must notify as soon as possible their respective dean and Human Resources in any circumstance in which a faculty member is absentdue to personal disability or family leave in excess of two consecutive weeks.
2. Application, Approvals, & Funding
  1. Faculty members must apply for salary continuation on such forms as may be adopted by Human Resources. Upon certifying eligibility, Human Resources will notify the appropriate department chair and dean whether the faculty member qualifies for disability or family leave salary continuation under this policy.
  2. Department chairs and deans remain responsible for approving all faculty leaves of absence, including disabilityrelated leaves of absence. The department chair is responsible for securing, to the extent possible, substitute personnel for the duration of the faculty member’s leave. Any adjustments in work schedules within the department are at the discretion of the department chair with the approval of the dean and are subject to departmental and institutional needs and resources.
  3. Disability salary continuation will automatically be charged to the employee's home department. However, upon certification of a faculty member's disability, the dean will immediately provide funding to the faculty member's department for a temporary or interim replacement. This funding will continue for the duration ofthe faculty member's disability or family leave.
3. Certification of Disability / Confidentiality of Medical Records
  1. The university (through Human Resources) may require the faculty member to provide medical certification of the nature and expected duration of any disability from the employee's or family member’s medical care provider or a medical care provider specializing in the area of the diagnosis. The university may request a second or third opinion at its own expense.
  2. Human Resources notifies the academic chain of command whether the condition constitutes a disability or eligible family leave but does not provide personal medical information to the employee’s immediate supervisor without the employee’s permission.
4. Record Keeping
  
  Human Resources shall maintain records of disability and family leave salary continuation in the employee's official personnel file. On the effectivedate of this policy, all prior service at UNCW for nontenure track faculty will contribute to eligibility.
Appeals

A decision by the dean not to grant a request for leave under this policy may be appealed to the Provost’s Office within ten (10) business days of receiving the notification of denial. The appeal must be in writing and signed by the faculty member stating the grounds for review. The Provost or designee will render the finaluniversity decision regarding any appeal.
Affect on Tenure
1. A tenuretrack faculty member who is granted leave under this policy automatically receives an extension of one academic year for the permanent tenure decision or posttenure review. The faculty member must complete the Postponement of RTP and/or PTR form and send signed copies to the department chair, the appropriate dean, and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development.
2. A tenured faculty member granted leave under this policy automatically receives an extension of one academic year for posttenure review and must follow the process described above with respect to completing the Postponement of RTP & PTR form.
3. Faculty will not be penalized in their condition of employment because they require time away from work caused by or contributed to by conditions covered by this policy.